Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
PUBLIC, adj. Also publi(c)k, †publict (Lnk. 1710 Minutes J.P.s (S.H.S.) 96). Sc. forms and usages in combs. (1) public burdens, n.pl., the taxes and duties associated with ownership or tenancy of land, rates and taxes, “a quasi-technical expression” (Sc. 1946 A. D. Gibb Legal Terms 70); 2. public right, in Sc. Law: a heritable right acquired when the purchaser of a property completes his feudal title with the seller's superior, a procedure once distinct but now merely formal in modern conveyancing practice; 3. public room, n., a room in a dwelling house in which visitors are received and entertained, a reception room, e.g. a sitting-room, dining-room, etc. (Sc. 1896 A. Cheviot Proverbs 280); 4. public school, a state-controlled school run by the local burgh or county education authority, gen. non-fee-paying and supported by contributions from local and national taxation, in official use since 1872.1. n.Sc. 1706 Sc. Antiquary XII. 104:
A little Book . . . which makes it as plain as a niss on a mans Face, that the publick burdens will be less after the Eenion than just now.Sc. 1793 Caled. Mercury (26 Dec.):
The whole public burdens yearly will not exceed £3. 10. 0.Sc. 1838 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. 799–800:
Public burdens affecting land, may be defined generally as all taxation or assessments, imposed in respect of the property or possession of land, including the land tax or cess, minister's stipend, manse and glebe assessments. . . . Conveyances usually employ the expression, public and parochial burdens; but the general expression, “public burdens” is sufficient to cover local as well as general taxes and assessments.Sc. 1891 J. Craigie Conveyancing 107:
The statutory form of this clause in a disposition is — “And I bind myself to free and relieve the said disponee and his foresaids of all feu duties, casualties, and public burdens.”2. Sc. 1754 Erskine Principles ii. vii. § 6:
Public Rights. Dispositions to be holden of the granter's superior may be perfected, either by confirmation, or resignation; and therefore, they generally contain both precept of seisin and procuratory of resignation . . . A public right is null without confirmation. But, if the receiver shall afterwards obtain the superior's confirmation, it is considered, as if it had been, from the beginning, a public right.Sc. 1838 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. 801:
Public right is the technical name given in feudal law to an heritable right granted by a vassal to be held, not of himself but of his superior.3. Sc. 1800 Edb. Advertiser (14 Jan.):
The public rooms are large, commanding a beautiful prospect of the country; the bedrooms are eight in number.Sc. 1818 S. Ferrier Marriage II. xxiii.:
The public rooms were covered with dust from the chalked floors.Sc. 1961 Scotsman (22 Aug.) 10:
The hall is a lobby, the sittingrooms are public rooms.Rnf. 1965 Scotsman (14 June) 8:
House contains 2 public rooms, 2 bedrooms, boxroom, scullery and bathroom.4. Sc. 1702 Session Rec. Minnigaff MS. (2 June):
By Act of Parliament no school is to be kept within two miles of a publick school.Per. 1716 J. Hunter Diocese Dunkeld (1918) II. 92:
Att five miles distance from the publick school of the paroch.Bwk. 1753 Caled. Mercury (25 Oct.):
The Publick School of Earlston, in Berwickshire, a Presbytery Seat, being vacant, a proper Person is wanted for supplying the same.Ags. 1776 First Hist. Dundee (Millar 1923) 172:
The publick English School and the Publick writing School are also in this Church yard.Ags. 1796 G. Hay Arbroath (1876) 266:
From the time of the erection of the additional school, about 1796, there appear to have been three masters; and the name “Public Schools” was generally substituted for the old title of the “Grammar School.”Sc. 1872 Act 35 & 36 Vict. (Scotland) c. 62 § 25, 26:
Every school under the management of the school board of a parish shall be deemed a parish school, and every school under the management of the school board of a burgh shall be deemed a burgh school, and all such schools are hereby declared to be public schools within the meaning of this Act. . . . There shall be provided for every parish and burgh a sufficient amount of accommodation in public schools available for all persons resident in such parish or burgh.m.Lth. 1894 P. H. Hunter J. Inwick xviii.:
My steps were aye takin me in the direction o' the public schule.Sc. 1910 J. Kerr Sc. Education 324:
Between 1900 and 1906 the number of such [secondary] schools rose from 31 to 141, of which 127 are public schools, and 14 are schools under voluntary management.Gsw. 1958 Stat. Acc.3 516:
A public school, to the Scots, is not (as, quaintly, it is south of the border), a private school: it is a school under the management of an education committee exercising powers delegated to them by a Town or County Council as Education Authority.
